IRE and NICAR announced at NICAR17 conference that the organization will begin taking steps toward saving federal data that is at risk of disappearing.

Many are concerned that data is going to be harder to access, won’t be updated or maintained or just disappear. (Check out my previous post about a NICAR panel that discussed this very concern.)

IRE and NICAR will organize a federal directory where people can submit any federal databases that they’ve collected or share where certain data can be accessed.

This is a time where newsroom competition needs to be set aside and journalists need to work together to preserve valuable data and information.

Other organizations such as DataRefuge have been leading data rescue events and have already saved 140 databases.

Check out the IRE website for more information on how to get involved.